Abstract:
Across the European Union, there has always been a critisicm towards integration. Since the two decades, the debates have witnessed a widespread scepticism about the benefits of the European Union. The euroscepticism is manifested in critical practices that oppose European integration. Euroscepticism relates to the principally contested character of the European Union as a political entity. It correlates with the attempts to promote the democratic legitimacy of the European Union. Euroscepticism was seen as a British disease. But it has now spread across the continent. The scepticism could be seen in the rejection of the Constitutional Treaty, in the 2005 referendums in France and the Netherlands, and in the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, in the 2008 Irish referendum.This paper aims to make a two-fold contribution to the study of Euroscepticism in Europe. The former is to analyze the euroscepticism as an ideology. The latter is to find out the effects of the Euroscepticism on European integration in general and in particular.